Kentucky Humanities, in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities, will bring an award-winning family literacy program to Nicholasville August 27th.

Prime Time Family Reading Time will meet Tuesdays from August 27 to October 1, at Nicholasville Elementary School, 414 West Maple Street. The program is free and includes meals, door prizes, and educational childcare for younger siblings.

Prime Time Family Reading Time helps families bond around the act of reading and talking about books. In each of six weekly sessions, a discussion leader and storyteller lead programs that demonstrate effective reading techniques. The books introduced to children ages 6 to 10 and their parents explore timeless issues of humanity – fairness, greed, courage, individuality, trickery and determination – while helping them understand the dynamics of making life choices. The program is free and includes meals, door prizes, and educational childcare for younger siblings.

The storyteller is Mary Hamilton, and Chris Begley is the Prime Time scholar.

“Prime Time is an important program of Kentucky Humanities,” Goodman said. “The reading program bonds families around the act of reading and seeks to transform them into life-long readers and regular visitors to Kentucky’s libraries. We have been sponsoring Prime Time since 2004, and have hosted 240 Prime Time programs in 85 Kentucky counties in 15 years.”

Prime Time Family Reading Time has won awards from the Public Library Association and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities created the program in 1995. Its studies showed that children who went through Prime Time increased their reading time by 80 percent and doubled their trips to the library. The program also benefited their parents, who improved their parenting skills and, in 29 percent of the cases studied, their employment status.